Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernest von Weber (?November 19 1786 – June 5 1826) was a German composer, born in the town of Eutin, near Lübeck. He was a critical figure in the development of musical Romanticism, and influenced many composers of his and of subsequent generations, including Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz. He was best known in the 19th century for his operas, including Der Freischütz, an international sensation at the time, and Euryanthe, Oberon, King of the Fairies, Silvana, and Die drei Pintos. His numerous overtures, with their adventurous use of tone color, influenced the development of the symphonic poem.

Comic opera

Having provided a comfortable home for his father, and begun a new comic opera in one act, called Abu Hassan, Weber moved to Darmstadt in order to be near his old master Abbé Vogler, and his fellow-pupils Giacomo Meyerbeer and Johann Gansbacher. On September 16, 1810, he produced Sylvana in Frankfurt, but with very dubious success. Abu Hassan was completed in Darmstadt in January 1811, after many interruptions, one of which (his attraction to the story of Der Freischütz) exercised a memorable influence upon his later career.

Related Topics:
Abu Hassan - Darmstadt - Giacomo Meyerbeer - Johann Gansbacher - Frankfurt

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Weber started in February 1811 on an extended artistic tour, during which he made many influential friends, and on June 4 he premiered Abu Hassan with marked success in Munich. His father died in Mannheim in 1812, and after this Weber had no permanent home, until in 1813 he was offered an appointment as Kapellmeister in Prague, coupled with the duty of entirely remodelling the performances at the opera house. The terms were so liberal that he accepted at once, engaged a new company of performers, and directed them with uninterrupted success until autumn 1816.

Related Topics:
1812 - Kapellmeister - Prague

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During this period he composed no new operas, but he wrote much of his best pianoforte music, and played it with never-failing success, while the disturbed state of Europe inspired him with some of the finest patriotic melodies in existence. First among these stand ten songs from Korner's Leyer und Schwerdt, including "Vater, ich rufe dich," and "Lutzow's wilde Jagd"; and in no respect inferior to these are the splendid choruses in his cantata Kampf und Sieg, which was first performed at Prague, on December 22, 1815.

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